The heart of what we learned at the Vipassana Centre was to free ourselves from our cravings and aversions. We began to experientially understand why cravings and aversions are pointless because of what Buddah called Anicca (an-itch-ah). Anicca is Pali for impermanence. Recognizing that anicca characterizes everything is one of the first steps in freeing ourselves from suffering. Because nothing is permanent, it is pointless to crave or avert things. Everything rises to pass away and to become attached or to wish things were different only causes suffering.
SLAVES TO AVERSION
If you hold an aversion to something, you have an extreme dislike for it and wish it would go away. In my experience, we seem to hold aversions on a number of levels:
1) Aversions of the body
2) Emotional aversions
3) Mental aversions
Aversions of the Body
Pain, itches, hunger, cold, heat, thirst, fatigue, illness...the list of bodily sensations that we hold aversions to is long! These bodily sensations are not bad on their own. It is our aversions to them that cause us to suffer. If I have a stomach ache, I immediately feel an aversion to it. "I don't want to have a stomach ache. Poor me with my stomach ache." This causes me to tense up and exaggerate not only the ache's intensity, but the length of time it lasts.
Emotional Aversions
Sadness, grief, worry, anger, guilt, jealousy, frustration, depression...there are so many emotions that we hold aversions to. If we feel one of these emotions, we usually feed it with our aversions. "I feel angry and I don't like feeling angry. This person made me angry by doing such and such so it's there fault. Ooo this makes me so angry!" This loop feeds itself and your anger gets out of control very quickly. On top of this, other people may pick up on your anger and have a whole other chain reaction happening inside them because they have aversions to your anger. The suffering spreads.
Mental Aversions
On the mental level, it's common to have aversions to prejudices, judgement, criticism, and other external influences. We can even have aversions to how we may not be measuring up to standards we set for ourselves. "I shouldn't be in this pay bracket. I shouldn't be single. I shouldn't be so shy. I shouldn't have a menial job."
SLAVES TO CRAVINGS
What about all the pleasant sensations, feelings, and situations? I hate to break it to you, but anicca applies to the pleasant as well as the unpleasant. Because of this, if we cling to pleasant sensations we are causing our own suffering because nothing is permanent. Our cravings for situations to be pleasant lead to suffering in the end.
ARE YOU A VICTIM?
Responding and reacting to our aversions and cravings usually causes us to place responsibility externally. "He made me sad. Genetics gave me this disease. I want my partner to do this for me." As soon as we realize how our cravings and aversions to things are multiplying our sufferings, we internalize this responsibility and gain back control. We are no longer victims. We have the power to come out of the suffering.
THE POWER OF OBSERVATION
How do you free yourself from your cravings and aversions? Mental aversions/cravings can fuel emotional aversions/cravings which can fuel physical aversions/cravings and vice versa. The physical level is the most fundamental level that we hold cravings and aversions, because everything manifests as a physical sensation. If you allow your awareness to tune into what's happening physically you will often find the physical sensation associated with an emotion. If you take a moment to notice the physical sensations you are feeling and remind yourself that these sensations will pass, then you won't generate aversions and cravings. Don't ignore the sensations and emotions as this can cause them to multiply deep inside. Instead, feel them, acknowledge them, and accept them without willing them to go away or to stay. Nothing is permanent so you may find that if you stay with the sensation of these emotions it will eventually fade. "I see the sadness and I accept it without reacting to it or wishing it to go away." Somehow, by accepting it you stop fueling it and it passes.
Remember anicca. Everything rises to pass away. Nothing is permanent.
This is no easy feat and it takes a lot of practice and discipline to come out of this mind pattern. The best way to start is to notice when you are under the influence of a craving or aversion and to come out of it as soon as you can. In the beginning, this may mean you brood in anger for 6 hours instead of 7. That's a whole hour you've gained! Eventually it could mean you notice the anger, sit with it for 10 minutes and watch as it passes.
Isn't it empowering to know we have the means to alleviate our suffering and that we don't have to be victims to external factors?
